Sorry about not getting around to many sites lately, just when I thought my net troubles had died down, they reared up again so I've been unable to do much around here. I did promise that I would mention an anime group I'm signed up with on Yahoo!, the DragonsFlameClub. It used to have a lot more activity than it does now, mostly spam bots and such, but we're trying to get it up and running again as best we can. As anime fans in a country where access to it is segmented, we should try to come together. If your interested, click the button, if not, that's okay too.
One week left to submit character considerations for the Anniversary Commemorative project. Then I'll begin the task of reading and deciding which three I'll be doing this time. That process should take a couple weeks, and I'll be offline the weekend of Oct 5-7 because I'll be at Tsubasacon, unless I have a net connection at the hotel, then I'll be posting convention updates for you all.
The Otaku Survival Guide is back with Part Two of it's convention coverage. I'm finding these articles to be very useful as I go about planning my trip to Tsubasacon in a couple weeks.
My novel's proposal will go into the mail on Monday, then I play the waiting game. I may not hear anything before Jaunary, and hopefully no later than March, but that will give me time to start on my next novel and get all that outstanding art done. Yes, I plan to write another book, actually, I have the material, I just need to polish it up, finish the story, and get it formatted (the REALLy fun part).
I did hear from NCM Fathom that they would consider West Virginia for future events. That's a positive step in the process, but it also tells me that they never even offered the content to WV theatres in the first place. I love busting arrogant corporate America wide open like that.
I had to post this gem among propaganda gems when I stumbled upon it this morning. Apparently WV is so desperate that they've resorted to THIS little number to try to ruin more lives by sucking unsuspecting fools into the hellish black hole that is this state. They need to work on the real problems, like their poor record of helping unemployed West Virginians, and the horridly arrogant, self-interested attitudes of the hillbillies who live here before they can tout themselves to the world as any kind of haven. The new motto on our welcome signs, "Open for Business" is the biggest crock of crap since Beethoven's chamber pot.
Comments:
LGA775:
If you don't read the TheO front page or Adam's blog, chances are you haven't heard about it. As for it being a US only thing, I don't understand that myself. If I had the energy, I'd try to answer that legal question since a lot of my readers here are outside the US anyway.
Actually I did watch it on TV when I probably shouldn't have, knowing that trying to see it on the small screen would hit that sore spot in me. It's not the same to see it on the small screen when it could very well have been in a theatre close enough to me to see it right a couple months ago, and wasn't.
GIDRA:
I didn't even know there was more than one, so I had to do some research to answer that. No, it was the first movie.
I don't know where the regulation comes from that says they can't open them to more than US residents, but I do agree with you, it's hardly a fair deal to have contests that aren't equally accessible to all members.
Yeah, it probably could have been better, but I think it turned out okay. For some reason, I can pick up almost any visual art media with little trouble, it's getting the details down that's the hard part.
Yeah, I like to compare it to tattooing, everything is permanent, it can't be corrected once it's done, so it's a slow process to complete a piece, I actually did Haku over the course of two days to make sure the lines were done well.
I like Haku in Spirited Away for a couple reasons, not just cause he's a dragon :P He's a complex character, you see him kind, gentle, and wise one moment, then hard and cold the next. It's something that you don't see much of these days.
Dang it! I knew I forgot somthing again! I'm going out with family this week to find a better digitla camera for tthe convention (my Fuji is a piece of crap). I'll use the tattoo as a test shot for the new camera.
Magnus Lensherr:
Haku came out okay, but I'll get better as I do more stuff. I'll probably do Van Fanel (Escaflowne), and Claus (Last Exile) in terms of my own projects next while I'm still working on the paper drawings I need to get done. Worse comes to worse, I'll do all the art projects I'm backed up with on wood.
Actually, I like the thought of doing an original character piece, so I'll draw up my own lizardman and make four instead of the original three I was intending to do.
Yeah, I rode the school bus with a bunch of tobacco chewers. The driver failed his duty by not reporting the underage use of the crap or not taking it away from them in the first place.
Thanks for the input, I'm glad to know that I'll do the characters justice when it comes time to do them.
lifes burden:
The movie itself was all right, the misery was from having to see it on TV because when Viz had it in theatres a couple months ago, no theatre in or near West Virginia would show it. It's just not the same to see a movie on a small TV screen, it loses more than half the experience.
I'm only entering the fan art contest myself. I'm not good with wallpapers or manga style art yet so those are out for me.
I should take a picture of my oil painting (I only did that once, it's too expensive to be a regular hobby for me). Maybe it's cause I'm ambidextrous I can adapt to most art media, I don't know. Learning quickly is a talent I have that I wish I could impress upon employers. They can't see how I work on the paper application or in a 30 minute interview. If they knew how fast it was to teach me stuff, I'd probably get hired in a heartbeat. Oh well, that's West Virginia's loss.
mysterious rei:
Hope you get to see it, the first one is good anyway, can't speak for the others yet.
Glad you like it, Haku is an easy subject. Actually that dribble is blood, you have to see the screencapture to get that I think.
You get around when you can, I don't stop by your page as often as I'd like to either.
alphonse13:
I wanted to see it, but I probably shouldn't have watched it anyway knowing what it would do to me.
Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.
beyblader:
It remains to be seen which ones I'll be doing this time, this is kind of a test round for me for a future, bigger project. Granted I'm picking the three I'll be doing myself this time, next round I'll probably do something more interactive for that part of the process, and there will be more slots available. I'm still working out the kinks of those parts in my head, that's why I didn't do that this time.
It's kind of hard to explain what wood burning is, that's why I wanted to show everyone what an end product looks like.
Actually, the Fan Art and Fan Manga contests are open to US and Canadian residents. See #2 in the Short list of rules for both of those contests.
Fan Art
Fam Manga
Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing our neighbors to the North taking top honors in some contests, but since I'm entering the Fan Art one myself, I'd rather see West Virginia take that one, although, I think I stand a snowballs chance in- well you get the idea.
timechaser:
Actually, It could be the worst movie in the world and I'd still feel the same way, because it's the principle of the whole thing that had me down. Just the fact that it's theatrical presentation a couple months ago never came close to me.
I think eventually he's going to see that he made a mistake with that choice. DeviantArt and TokyoPop, the sites he's obsessed with beating lately, both provide for writers as well as visual artists. If he expects to keep up, he's going to have to be more open and supportive of writers as well as visual artists. You can be discouraged by his action, or you can fight harder. You can continue to be active about the lack of support for writers on the network, just keep his decision with Articles out of your efforts. I was disappointed to see Articles and Reviews go myself, because at the time I was working on a couple reviews that never got posted, and in my frustration over not being able to post them, they got deleted. To me, the written word is as much an artform as pigment on paper, pixels on screen, or even charring on wood, and it should be encouraged, particularly in the animé fan community. You can count on me to back you up on this regard. In fact, when I am published, I will donate several copies of my book (which I will personally sign, addressing the winners) to TheO as prizes for a contest, under the stipulation that they be awarded for a witing contest, and that I not have anything to do with the judging process (I don't trust myself). It makes sense to win a book for writing something, not drawing it anyway.
I learn quick, but it does take practice to get things down completely. Thanks for the feedback, I look forward to future challenges in the craft myself.
AngelBest Dream:
I may have missed a weekend in there somewhere, I'm not really sure anymore. Nice to see you around again. Woodburning is fun (when you don't hit your hand, that hurts), and it's another way for me to create, which I like to do.
All right, I've got your info to read through later (I'm going to read through all of these in detail at the same time when I'm done taking submissions, that's when I'll decide which three I'll do this time around). Added your count to the tally as well.
Mamma Vash:
The heat's actually letting up a little here, so I'll be able to focus on those art projects again soon. It wears me out a lot too. As for movies, I don't normally fall asleep durning films on TV, the commercials usually keep me awake with how loud and obnoxious they are.
Hop-Frog:
Yeah it was a while back. I subscribe to the e-mail newsletters of FUNimatin, Viz, and I'm on ADV now too, That's where I get my info from if it's not posted on TheO's main page. The movie was in "select theatres" (I hate that phrase with a passion) for one night only, like the ones that were last week, and coming up this week (I'm not even going to get into those, don't ask). It would be nice to see just one animé film in a theatre, it doesn't have to be a good movie, I'll settle for anything. They're just not the same on TV.
Thanks for the feedback. No, it's on there really good (I like it not to smudge off with the hand I'm left handed sometimes and that would be bad if it did). I thought about my kneaded eraser after I clearcoated the thing so I couldn't try it at that point, but I think I'll do some testing with it, and some other things I thought of to try to reduce the blue carbon's appearance in the finished product. If that doesn't work, I have a sheet of grap[hite paper that I can use in lieu of blue carbon paper which should be easier to take off, and look less intrusive on the completed work.
And that's why I almost always have this goofy grin on, smiling makes people wonder what you've been up to.
Got that info saved and the options added to the count. I'll read through the whole thing in depth when I read all of them later.
twilight samurai:
I don't associate rain with depression or sadness, I've always loved the rain, it's calming and soothing to me, but for every up there is a down. I'll be all right, I've got new things to attack anyway.
That's a legal question that I don't have the answer to right now. Most of that may have to do with the partner Brickfish, I can't speculate, it's out of my realm of experience. It's not really a good show for TheO, but I guess it can't be helped.
Thanks for the input I appreciate it. I certainly hope I do the characters justice when I start to work on them.
BASH:
I am a dragon of many moods, and since I did get a positive indicator from NCM Fathom on the posibility of future events being promoted to West Virginia, I'm all right on that front.
I suppose so, but given that I know I have a lot of readers based outside the US, well, I should be more considerate in my presentation of such things.
So very true, and even I say that about my work a lot. I generally don't say my stuff is good on my own, I just say it's good cause other people tell me it is.
Well, it works better in some industries than in others, I still haven't gotten Japanese music on Napster yet, but with iTunes running a Japanese store, I think the American Music Download services will pick up the content or find themselves in hot water. As for NCM Fathom, they tell me they'll consider West Virginia for future events. I certainly hope that means Anime events since that's what I hit them with at least three times over.
That's your choice, I respect it. I will mention that I haven't really read any of the submissions yet, I'm waiting till the end date and I'll read them all at once to give each a fair shake in terms ofa read/comprehension type of thing.
Iruka Sensei:
It certainly has been a while, thanks for stopping by. In my case I'm having more net troubles now than anything, so it kind of keeps me off when I want to be commenting and stuff these days.
If you do enter, good luck. Wallpapers aren't my thng so I'm sitting that one out. The fan art one though, I'm almost done with my entery for it, I finished up the lineart while camping and the coloring should be done this week.
Anniversary Commemorative
Another year, and many more possibilities. Looking back at this past year here on MyOtaku, I can say it was pretty rough for me, it still is in some respects, but I made it, and I look forward to many more years to come here. A couple weeks ago, I asked for some ideas on an event to commemorate my fourth year anniversary. After giving it some thought myself, and looking over the feedback I got in relation to that question, I have come up with something that I hope is different enough to spark your interest.
I have decided to immortalize a character on wood. I'll be burning a fanart piece onto a wood plaque, the thing is, I don't really know which character to burn. So I'm turning to you guys, name your favorite anime characters (three at the most please), what series, movie, or OVA they come, and tell me something about them in a short paragraph (a short paragraph for each character). I'll look over every submission I get, and the three I like the most will be burned onto wood plaques.
What I do with the plaques when they are done will be up to you guys. The options will be:
- Give them to the first three readers who ask for them.
- Give them to the member who's post inspired the piece.
- Hold some sort of raffle type give-away for them here on my page.
- Donate them to TheOtaku for potential future give-away.
- Donate them to an anime convention's charity auction (if any will take them).
- Prize for a future event I hold here on my site myself.
The Current count of favored options is:
0 - #1 Give them to the first three readers who ask for them.
5 - #2 Give to member who inspired the piece.
1 - #3 Hold some sort of raffle type thing give-away for them here on my page.
4 - #4 Donate them to TheOtaku for potential future give-away.
2 - #5 Donate them to an anime convention's charity auction (if any will take them).
1 - #6 Prize for a future event I hold here on my site myself.
I'll take submissions up till September 29, and I'll post my decision on October 13 (can't do it October 6, I'll be at Tsubasacon). The actual plaques probably won't be done for a couple weeks after I post my decision.
